Benefits 101
Supplemental Security Income
(SSI) 101
April 2015
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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What We’ll Cover
 What Is SSI
• Brief History and Background
• Stats and Facts
 How It Works
• Eligibility Rules
• How Your Clients Can Apply
• What Your Eligible Clients Receive
 Relationship to Other Public Benefits
 Resources
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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What is SSI?
 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the national income
support benefit for the lowest income seniors and younger adults
living with disabilities
 Administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA):
• Uniform national eligibility criteria and determinations made only by
SSA
• Sometimes is sole source of income; sometimes supplements a very
low Social Security benefit or small amounts of earned income
• Some states supplement the federal payment amount
 SSI eligibility determination methodologies generally used for:
• Medicaid
• Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS)/Extra Help program
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Brief History and Background of SSI
 1972 – SSI enacted
• Purpose to establish a national income floor for poorest seniors and
younger adults with disabilities
 1974 – SSI takes effect
• Medicaid eligibility for seniors and younger adults with disabilities
tied to SSI standards and methodologies
o States allowed to retain stricter Medicaid eligibility criteria if they
adopt “209(b)” option. People in these states must file a
separate Medicaid application
 1989 – Last time resource test raised
• $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a married couple
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Stats and Facts
 As of December 2014, there were ~8.3 million people
receiving SSI:
• Age 18-64: 4.9 million
• Age 65 and over: 2.1 million
• Under age 18: 1.3 million
 In 2015, the maximum standard monthly payment is:
• $733/month for a single individual
• $ 1,100/month for married couple
 The average SSI benefit in December 2014 was
$532/month
 Most states supplement the basic SSI benefit
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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How SSI Works
 Who’s Eligible?
• Two Kinds of Eligibility Criteria: Non-Financial and Financial
 How Your Clients Can Apply
 What Your Eligible Clients Receive
 These slides provide a general overview of the
SSI program
• Contact SSA with questions about
individual or fact specific scenarios
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Non-Financial Criteria: Covered Category
 Your client must be in a covered category, meaning either:
• Aged 65 and over
• Blind (meaning statutory blindness)
• Disabled – have a physical or mental impairment that:
o Results in the inability to do any substantial gainful activity; AND
o Can be expected to result in death; OR
o Has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of
not less than 12 months
 Most SSI recipients are under age 65
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Non-Financial Criteria: Residence and
Citizenship
 Your client must be a US citizen, or
• A non-citizen lawfully and permanently residing in the U.S. and:
o Arrived prior to Aug. 22, 1996 and is blind/disabled,
o Arrived prior to Aug. 22, 1996 and received SSI before that date, or
o Legally admitted under the INA and has 40 work credits under Social Security.
• Other legal non-citizens who may be eligible:
o U.S. armed services veteran (or spouse/child of a veteran),
o Non-citizen members of a federally recognized tribe,
o Those with specified refugee/immigrant status.
 Important: Non-citizens who entered the U.S. on/after Aug. 22, 1996 may
not be eligible for SSI for the first five years even if they have 40 qualifying
work credits.
 Some non-citizen SSI recipients are subject to 7-yr. time limit on benefits.
 Note: Your clients will lose SSI in any full month they are outside the U.S.
(e.g., Puerto Rico, Guam) and for 30 days after they return
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Financial Criteria: Income Test
 Income is money, or certain goods and services with a monetary
value, that is generally received on a regular and recurring basis
• Most earned and unearned income is counted by SSA when deciding
if your clients are eligible for SSI
• Some income is excluded - meaning not counted, or disregarded
o First $20 of unearned income is disregarded
Example: Your client gets a $196 monthly Social Security
retirement benefit. Subtract $20 =$176. Subtract $176 from
the basic federal SSI amount ($733 in 2015). SSI amount is $557.
o First $65 of earned income plus one-half of the remainder of earned
income over $65 is disregarded
Example: Your 69-year-old client earns $150 a week from a part-time job.
That’s $615 each month (at 4.1 weeks per month). Subtract $65 = $550, and
one-half of the remainder = $275 as counted income. SSI amount is $458.
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Financial Criteria: In-Kind Support and
Maintenance
 Recurring non-cash contributions or donations
• Contributions made by others toward your client’s shelter or
food are called in-kind support and maintenance (ISM)
o Shelter includes rent or mortgage, real property taxes, heating, gas,
electricity, water, sewage and trash collection services
• ISM affects the amount of SSI your client receives
o “One-Third Reduction Rule” – applies if your client lives in another
person’s household/on their own but does not pay their fair share of
food and shelter costs
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Financial Criteria: Resources
 Resource Test:
• Your clients are allowed to have very limited amounts of
resources:
o $2,000 for an individual, or $3,000 for a married couple
o Home in which your client lives
o One car if needed for transportation
o Life insurance, if face value is $1,500 or less
o Burial funds of up to $1,500, if kept separate from other savings
o A burial space
• Note: Income that is retained past the month it was received
turns into a resource for SSI purposes.
o Except you can have up to 9 months of retroactive SSI or Social Security
benefits.
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Financial Criteria: Resources (cont.)
 Most resources are counted, including:
• Retirement savings, such as 401(k) accounts
• Liquid resources: cash, or convertible to cash within 20 business days
 Non-liquid resources are not counted since not easily converted to
cash
• Examples include your client’s house or car
 Your clients may have:
• Crime compensation awards
• Disaster assistance
• Healthcare flexible spending arrangements (FSA)
 If your client, their spouse or co-owner give away resources for less
than it is worth, they may be ineligible for SSI for up to 36 months.
How long you are ineligible depends on the value of resources that
was transferred.
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Deeming of Income and Resources:
How It Works
 Sometimes SSI counts part of the income of a spouse,
parent, or sponsor when considering SSI application
• If person applying lives with a spouse ineligible for SSI, part of
spouse’s income will count
• Disabled/blind child under 18 living with a parent ineligible for
SSI will have part of parent’s income counted
• When alien (immigrant) is admitted legally with a sponsor,
some or all of the sponsor’s income counted
 Learn more at: http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/spotlights/spotdeeming.htm
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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How to Apply
 Applications not available online
 Clients must call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 to make
an appointment
• Before the appointment, your clients should complete the application
packet they will get in the mail
 At the appointment, your client will need to submit
documents to establish eligibility and answer questions
• You can go along if your client consents
• Be sure to bring necessary documents with you
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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How to Apply: Required Documents
 Required documents include:
• Social Security card/number
• Citizenship or Alien Status Record
• Proof of age
o If you have already done this when you applied for Social Security
you do not need to do so again
•
•
•
•
Proof of earned and unearned income
Proof of resources
Proof of living arrangement and expenses
If under age 65, proof of disability
o Includes list of medical providers and medical records
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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SSI Methodologies
 Many other public benefits use SSI methods of evaluating
eligibility
• Medicaid
• Medicare Savings Programs (QMB, SLMB, and QI)
• Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), or Extra Help Program
 Rules for defining and counting income and resources are
used as a baseline
 States may adopt “less restrictive” rules for Medicaid than
those used to determine SSI eligibility
• Many states use higher Medicaid or Medicare Savings Programs income or
resource disregards
• Social Security no longer counts in-kind support and maintenance (ISM) as
income when determining LIS/Extra Help eligibility
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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SSI and the Part D Low Income Subsidy (LIS)
 Your clients with SSI are “deemed” eligible for LIS
• They do not need to apply for LIS, automatically get it
• If they do not select a Part D Medicare drug plan on their own
they will be enrolled (randomly) into a plan by Medicare
• They can always change to another Part D plan at any time
• Plan is effective the first day of the month after enrollment
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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SSI and Medicaid
 In most states (sometimes called “1634 states”),
people with SSI get Medicaid automatically
• They do not need to apply for Medicaid separately
 In a few states (called “209(b) states”), Medicaid
eligibility rules are stricter than SSI rules
• People with SSI in these states must apply for Medicaid through the
state Medicaid eligibility determination process
• Find list of 209(b) states at
https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0501715010
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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SSI and SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps)
 Social Security tells all applicants for SSI about SNAP
 SSI applicants may start a SNAP application at the same
time they apply for SSI or when they recertify their SSI
eligibility
 Social Security forwards the SNAP application to the state
SNAP eligibility office
 The SNAP office processes the SNAP application and
decides how much – if any – SNAP benefits to award
 By answering additional questions, your clients may get
higher income deductions and a higher SNAP benefit
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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SSI and SNAP (cont.)
 One state – CA - “cashes out” SNAP
• People with SSI in cash-out states do not get SNAP
• Instead, the state adds a lump sum onto the SSI benefit
 Several states run “Combined Application Projects” (SSI-CAP)
demonstrations:
• Designed to simplify SNAP enrollment for SSI recipients using
data from SSI application – need only answer few additional
questions
• Generally for 1-person elderly SSI households (“pure SSI
households”)
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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Resources
• Understanding SSI (Social Security Administration) at:
http://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-understanding-ssi.htm
• Program Operations Manual System (POMS) on SSI (the
rules, from SSA) at:
https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/chapterlist!openvi
ew&restricttocategory=05
• Social Security Act on SSI (the law) at:
http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title16b/1600.htm
• Screen your clients for eligibility on BenefitsCheckUp® at:
www.BenefitsCheckUp.org
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
21
Thank You!
 Thank you for participating in the Benefits 101
Series from the Center for Benefits Access at NCOA
 We invite you to learn more about us by visiting our
website:
www.ncoa.org/centerforbenefits
 If you have any questions or comments, please
contact us at centerforbenefits@ncoa.org
Improving the lives of 10 million older adults by 2020
© 2015 National Council on Aging
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